Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt Crisps, 37.5g

Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt is the plain bag of the baked range: a snack made from potato flakes and starch, baked rather than fried, with a light seasoning of sea salt. This is the 37.5g single bag. The full product name on the pack is sea salt flavour baked potato snack, and the pack names Walkers Snack Foods Ltd as the maker.

The ingredients

According to the published pack listing, the snack is made from potato flakes, starch, rapeseed oil, sugar, an emulsifier (lecithins), a sea salt seasoning (sea salt, salt and flavourings), sunflower oil and a colour (annatto norbixin).

Plain, but not only salt

Unlike a plain fried crisp, which can be potatoes, oil and salt alone, the baked snack has a recipe of its own: potato flakes for the potato flavour, starch to hold the shape, a little sugar, and lecithins to help the oil and dough mix. The seasoning is sea salt with a little ordinary salt and flavourings. The result is a mild, lightly salty snack.

Potato flakes

Potato flakes are cooked potatoes that have been mashed and dried into thin flakes, the same kind used for instant mash. In a baked snack they carry the potato flavour, while starch gives the dough the strength to hold a thin, ridged shape in the oven.

Lecithins

Lecithins are emulsifiers, often made from soya or sunflower, which help oil and water mix evenly. The published list does not say which source is used here, and soya appears in the may contain advice.

How it is made

The pack says the range is always baked, never fried. The potato flakes, which are cooked, mashed and dried potato, are mixed with starch, shaped and baked; the pack pictures thin, ridged ovals. That is why the legal name is baked potato snack rather than crisps.

Sugar in a plain snack

Sugar is the fourth ingredient, ahead of the seasoning, and the label gives 5.4g of sugars per 100g and 2g in the bag. It rounds off the potato flavour rather than making the snack taste sweet.

Numbers for one bag

The label gives 164 kcal, 4.8g of fat, 0.5g of saturates, 27g of carbohydrate, 2g of sugars, 2.4g of fibre, 2.2g of protein and 0.32g of salt for the 37.5g bag, which it treats as one serving. That is about 8% of an average adult's daily energy reference intake, 7% of the fat and 5% of the salt. Per 100g it is 438 kcal, 13g of fat, 1.4g of saturates, 73g of carbohydrate, 5.4g of sugars, 6.3g of fibre, 5.9g of protein and 0.85g of salt.

Reading the front of the pack

On the UK front of pack scale, per 100g, fat at 13g is amber rather than the red of a fried crisp, and saturates at 1.4g are green. Sugars at 5.4g are amber, just over the 5g line. Salt at 0.85g is amber, in the lower half of its band.

Allergens and diet

No allergens from the UK list of 14 are highlighted in the published ingredients. The allergy advice says the snack may contain cereals containing gluten, milk, mustard and soya. The pack says it is suitable for vegetarians; there is no vegan claim and no gluten free claim. Recipes and factory arrangements change, so check the allergy advice on the pack you receive.

What the pack leaves out

The pack says there is no added MSG, no artificial colours and no artificial preservatives. The only colour on the list is annatto norbixin, a natural colour from the seeds of the achiote tree, which gives the golden tone.

Who it suits

A mild, plain snack suits younger children and anyone who wants a crisp style snack without a strong flavour. The light, even snap is easier going than the hard crunch of a hand cooked crisp.

Plain for a reason

A plain snack is the easiest to pair: it does not fight with the filling of a sandwich, the spices of a curry or the flavour of a dip, and it is the natural choice when you do not know what everyone likes.

The 37.5g bag

At 37.5g, the single bag is larger than the 22g bags in the six bag pack, and the label treats it as one serving.

Serving ideas

A plain baked snack goes with any sandwich, soup or salad, and it is mild enough to sit beside a dip: salsa, houmous or a yoghurt and mint dip.

In the kitchen

Crushed, the ovals make a neutral, light crumb for fish or chicken, or a crunchy topping for a gratin. Season the crumb with herbs or spices to suit the dish.

Storage

The pack advises a cool, dry place. Finish the bag once it is opened.

The six bag pack

For a week of lunches, we stock the same Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt in a six bag multipack of 22g bags, at 96 kcal a bag.

Other Walkers Oven Baked flavours

In the same 37.5g bag we stock Walkers Oven Baked Cheese and Onion, Prawn Cocktail and Salt and Vinegar, and in 150g sharing bags there are Walkers Oven Baked Sun Dried Tomato and Basil and Slow Roasted Beef.

Sizes of Walkers Oven Baked Sea Salt Crisps we stock

Figures as published on each pack's label.

The published listing gives the United Kingdom as the country of origin. The tasting notes on this page are our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.